The Little Things

Sometimes the simplest things bring kids so much joy. The magic of childhood! Dr. Brown’s sent us this little nightlight/timer, and our boys love it so much! They have so many toys to play with yet they prefer to sit in their teepee and stare at the different colors haha.

It’s actually a really awesome tool to help kids learn patience and discipline, so we thought we’d share it as it’d make a great little gift or stocking stuffer!

The light can be used as a soft glow night light or a timer. Their are different colors for each set amount of time from 1 to 30 minutes, and the light turns off when the time is up! This has been a great tool for MJ especially to learn discipline. I’ll set it for 1-5 minutes and have him do things like clean up his room/playroom until the light goes off, or set it for longer periods (20-30 minutes) for things like quiet time (aka when mama needs a break)! :) He loves it and gets so excited to come tell me when the times up haha.

One thing he DOESN’T like to use it for (but has been super helpful for Regan and I) is timeouts. Regan and I both use the 1-2 minute timer for timeouts (yes, sweet little Cal gets put on timeout sometimes too haha. Hard to imagine!) and it makes it so much easier when they know they need to stay in timeout until the light goes off.

Anyways, we’ve linked the cute little light here as well as below along with some other cute stocking stuffer ideas for kids!

Happy holidays everyone! ❤️❤️

Little Blessings

Sid and I (Regan) finally shared the news about our two little babies on the way!

It’s been a super emotional past few months for our family, as many of you know and can imagine, but the news of welcoming two new little blessings so close together, has definitely brought lots of smiles and joy and gratitude into the situation. Sid and I couldn’t be happier about being able to go through this stage together, and about our little babies being so close in age (our due dates are less than a month apart!).

I wanted to share a little bit about how we both found out we were pregnant and the backstories behind it.

My pregnancy process actually started almost two years ago. Some of you probably remember me sharing my IVF journey when we did my egg retrieval and froze our embryos a year after Cal was born.

Well, we finally decided we were ready to try for baby number two, and planned on starting the frozen embryo transfer process this past summer of 2019.

When my mom got sick I wasn’t sure if I should put the transfer on hold, since I knew I’d want to be down in California visiting her a bunch. My mom and I had a really close relationship, and spoke on the phone every single day, if not multiple times per day. I ran almost everything I did by her, and always wanted her opinion on everything (I still do, and still ask for help even now that she’s gone). She, of course, didn’t want anyone to put anything on hold on account of her, and convinced me that it was the perfect time to do the transfer, and that we should move forward with it.

We had our frozen transfer scheduled for September 3rd, and I started the medication (the dreaded shots in my bum) on August 13th, 3 days before my mom passed away.

Up until the day I started the meds, I was still so torn as to whether I should go through with the transfer or not. My parents were in China for cancer treatments for my mom, and I had gotten a Visa to visit so that I had the option to go and be with my mom if needed. My parents kept convincing me that I should go forward with the transfer, and my doctor and IVF coordinator were so sweet and understanding, and told me that even after I started the meds, I could still stop for any reason and push back the transfer date.

Long story short, I went through with it. When we got the news of my mom passing away, I was an emotional mess, needless to say, and I don’t think the extra hormones I was taking for the transfer helped. I kept taking the shots (Sidney and my husband, Daniel, were my nurses who gave me most of them! So grateful for them), because I didn’t want to make any rash decisions, and because I knew my mom would still want me to move forward with the transfer. Still though, I wasn’t sure if I might end up stopping and pushing back the transfer date. We were in the middle of figuring out how we wanted to celebrate the amazing life of my mom (she didn’t want a funeral) and I didn’t know how I’d work it all out, and also if the added stress would be good timing for the possible pregnancy.

Then about a week later…Sid found out she was pregnant!!!

This was a huge surprise to all of us, including Sidney and her husband, Morgan. A good one though! Although very emotional and heart-wrenching that our mom wasn’t here for it. But we knew she was there in spirit, and how happy she must have been, and we were all so thrilled for Sidney and Morgan!!

The cool part of Sid’s story is that our mom had been encouraging her to start their family over the last year or so. She’d remind Sid of the importance of being a mother and starting families, and that nothing should put that on hold. Sid knew it too, and although they weren’t trying to get pregnant, she also felt like it would be fine if it happened.

Well, Tori always gets her way, as we always joke! It felt like our mom definitely had her hand in how this all played out, and we were/are so happy and grateful!

It was actually such a cute and emotional morning the day she found out. Our grandma, mum (our mom’s mom), was here in Utah so that we could all be together after we got the news of our mom passing away. She randomly asked Sidney a few times if she was pregnant! She said something about her looking pregnant - that she had that pregnancy glow. Sidney didn’t think at ALL that she could be pregnant, but happened to have a pregnancy test leftover from a film shoot she did (she is a cinematographer), and decided to take it one morning. Sidney and Morgan live in our basement apartment (so fun, btw), and the rest of us were all upstairs while Sidney was down in her apartment showering. The door to the basement was open, and we suddenly started hearing Sidney urgently yelling for Morgan to come downstairs. He wouldn’t tell us what was up, but I, being the nosey sister that I am, ran downstairs after and she told me the awesome news. We both cried and I videoed as she came upstairs to tell my dad and the rest of our family who were at the house. There were more tears of happiness and many more smiles and phone calls made. Such a tender moment.

As soon as Sid found out she was pregnant, that confirmed my decision to move forward with my frozen transfer date of September 3rd. We talked about how fun it would be to have cousins so close in age, and the timing worked out perfectly with my mom’s celebration of life, which was held on September 9th.

^^^ there’s our little embryo right after the transfer!

We found out it took on September 13th. I was sooo nervous to find out, and pretty much stressed my entire first trimester about everything being okay. To be honest, I still worry, and I think I will until I feel our little babe moving around more. I think I’ve felt some little movements already, but am still in that stage where I’m not really sure if the little flutters I’m feeling is the baby or not. Lol.

When I finally made it to 10 weeks and graduated from my fertility center, and had heard the little heartbeat multiple times, I was ready to find out the gender.

Since we did genetic testing on the embryos, we actually had the opportunity to choose the gender if we wanted! But we decided not to, and just asked my doctor and the lab to choose the healthiest looking embryo, and not to tell us the gender. I also prayed that my mom would be able to come and have her hand in choosing whichever little embryo was meant to come join our family.

Sid was 14 weeks by then, and I really wanted to find out the genders together! I had my nurse write down our baby’s gender in an envelope, and gave it to Paige. Sid went over to Fetal Photo that same day and was told her gender. So she and Paige both knew what she was having, but no one else did, and only Paige knew what mine was. That night we did a little gender reveal for our family and it was such an exciting night!!! Here’s the video.

TWO GIRLS!! Sid is currently 20 weeks, due April 26th, and I am 16 weeks, due May 22nd. We couldn’t be more excited! The thought of our little girls wrapped up in our mom’s arms, waiting to come join our family is everything! She left us kids the most amazing note before she passed away, knowing she might be leaving us and in it she said, “I’ll also be spending lots of time with my unborn grand children and telling them how lucky they are to be born into our awesome family.” We know that’s exactly what she’s doing and that brings us so much happiness.

10 Tips for Surviving the Newborn Stage + Nursery Reveal

Paige here! Holy cow, it’s been a while! Regan has basically taken over the blog because I have been doing pretty much what I titled this blog post until very recently…surviving! I actually felt so guilty for a while because I saw all the cute insta moms swooning over their new babies and telling them to “stay little” and “stop growing” while I was over here counting the days until West was old enough to sleep train.

Now looking back at these newborn photos it makes me a little sad that I couldn’t enjoy it more because he just looks so precious! BUT, not going to lie I do MUCH better once my babies get a little sturdier/less fragile and can start to get on a schedule. West is two and a half months now and starting to get super sweet and smiley, doing pretty good with his schedule, and I’m overall in a much better headspace! (I’m sure my hormones evening out is a big part of it too).

Besides the natural hormone fluctuations after pregnancy, there were a few other things that made the newborn stage particularly hard for me this time around. West had his days/nights confused and had colic pretty bad for a few weeks. I do NOT do well with a screaming baby. It literally puts me in fight or flight mode and I feel like I need to fix it immediately even when there’s nothing I can do. Obviously I also have a toddler this time around which totally changes the game. MJ loves West and can be so sweet to him, but he also gets SO aggressive with him it’s terrifying. I have to to have my eyes on him 24/7. One time I left them both on the bed just for a second to grab something from the bathroom, and came back in to MJ jumping OVER West and barely making it! The picture below basically sums up MJ’s constant mood towards poor Westie haha. Lastly, as most of you know from instagram we found out my mom’s cancer came back at stage four shortly after West was born. As you can imagine, finding out that news combined with crazy hormones, no sleep, and a brand new baby is not the best combination!

ANYWAYS, enough of the hard stuff. If you’re a new mom reading this with similar struggles, I promise it does get better! I basically got to the point where I was like OK, I’ve got to take action and do SOMETHING to help me feel more sane here. A few weeks in I started feverishly researching, bought a new book that helped tremendously (more on that below), and got West on a ALL the colic supplements safe for newborns. I wish I could tell you one magic thing that worked to fix all the sleep and colic problems, but I think it was a combination of many! Below are my top ten tips that have saved me!

1. Moms On Call: I heard about their book from friends and decided to buy it when I got desperate. I didn’t think I’d need one this time around since I read a few with MJ and thought I had things figured out, but I’m so happy I got this one! They have the best tips and I love being able to have a schedule to *try to follow. They are also VERY straight to the point (the book is basically all bullet points) which I loved. Who has time for reading?!

2. Supplements: I wish I could tell you one magic supplement that worked wonders for colic, but I am not patient and basically tried all of them at once and one or all of them worked. Not sure which one, haha, so I just kept using them all! I use Gerber soothe probiotic drops every night, simethicone drops after almost every feeding, and gripe water whenever West starts to get really fussy. I’ll link them all at the end of this post!

3. Have Husband do Last Feeding: If at all possible, have your significant other do the last feeding so you can go bed early and get at least one longer stretch of sleep in!

4. Pump then Feed: I actually wish this wasn't the case, but it’s easier for me to just pump and give West a bottle right now. I know this isn’t the case for everyone, but for me it’s either he’s CONSTANTLY attached to the boob, or takes a bottle in a fraction of the time. I’ll try breastfeeding again when he’s a little older, but for now he can’t stay awake at the boob!

5. Don’t Change at Night: Sorry little guy, but momma’s got to sleep! I started doing the absolute bare minimum when West would wake up at night, and that includes no longer changing him until the morning! (Unless he has a VERY bad and obvious dirty diaper). I just load him up with diaper rash cream AND natural baby powder before bedtime.

6. Accept Help: People are going to offer to help you with a new baby. Take it! Obviously it’s easier to accept from people you’re related and close to, but take it where you can get it and don’t feel bad about it!

7. Move to Their OWN Room: After the first couple of weeks, move them to their own room with the door closed and a sound machine on. This is one of the tips from Moms On Call, but it was huge for me so I gave it it’s own spot :) It may sound sad, but you just don’t hear them as much! It was absolutely necessary for me with West waking up almost every 15 minutes sometimes. When they’re right next to you, you wake up to every grunt and whine, even when sometimes they can put themselves back to sleep! This way, you only wake up when they’re really awake and crying. THB though, I don’t think I could have done this as early without the owlet camera and sock! (Shown below). I love being able to check in on him from my phone and make sure he has safe oxygen levels and heart rate!

8. Hands Free Pumping Bra: I didn’t have one of these with MJ, and it’s a game changer! It turns pumping into more of a break, where you can be on your phone or watch part of a show, than a chore. I’ll link this one I use at the bottom of this post. It’s cute and super cheap!

9. Take the time for skin to skin: For me, this just bonded me with both of my babies. There’s no better feeling than a newborn baby laying on your chest! With West it was harder because after nursing/feeding I’d feel like I’d have to get up because there was so much to do, but taking at least a little bit of time each day for skin to skin helped me bond and feel so much love for him!

10. Don’t Let Guilt Get To You: This is still so hard for me. But I’m working on it! You’re just not going to be able to get as much done as you used to for a while, and that’s ok! I would (and still do sometimes) feel so guilty about not spending as much time with MJ, getting chores done, doing nothing on our blog etc. I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m doing the best I can, and that my number one priority is keeping my kids and myself alive and healthy!

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Jello Playdough

I’ll be honest, play dough is one of the (many) things that can really spark my OCD 😬 It’s a problem I’m willing to admit I have. Daniel and I used to be nursery leaders in our church, and we would bring store bought playdough every week. I was SO OCD about the one and two-year-old kids mixing the colors, I would only let them pick one color to play with at a time. Those poor kids, LOL.

Luckily, I’ve come a long way (not really), and I now allow Cal to play with multiple colors of playdough at a time, so long as it stays on our Gathre mat. Haha. Actually, the real reason I’ve come a long way is because Cal isn’t actually THAT in to playdough (yet) and probably wouldn’t ever try to mix the colors even if I asked him to.

Love that sweet boy. Lately we’ve been working on introducing Cal to more textures, and also strengthening his hands, which is why I started MAKING homemade play dough recently. I love that I know exactly what ingredients are in it, and that it’s totally safe, even if he were to put some in his mouth. The recipe I’ve been using is made with JELLO, which is what gives it it’s color, and makes it smell so yummy!

And I really do LOVE our Gathre mat for things like this! Once we’re done playing, I just quickly wipe it down and hang it back up. It’s also perfect to put under the high chair, and I want to get one to go under the easel Cal got for his birthday for painting and coloring, too! Be sure to check out the recipe for the play dough I’ve been using below.

Author: Salty BlondesPrint Recipe

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Homemade Jello Playdough

ingredients

You will need:

• white flour – 1 cup
• warm water – 1 cup
• salt – 2 tbsp
• cream of tartar – 2 tbsp
• cooking oil – 2 tbsp
• Jello – 3oz box

instructions

How to make:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a small saucepan.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until it thickens into a ball of dough. This step does take a little while. Just keep stirring, you’ll know it’s ready when won’t be able to stir anymore.
3. Once it has finished cooking, place the dough onto a silpat mat or floured cutting board and wait for it to cool.
4. Once it is cool (at least 20-30 minutes) knead it, adding in flour until it is no longer sticky (about 1/2 cup).
5. This recipe makes a lot of playdough. You could easily half the recipe, and there would still be plenty to play with.
6. When you are finished playing, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container. It will keep for at least a few weeks in the refrigerator, with daily use. If at any time it starts to be a little sticky, just add more flour.

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